Humility is Key (August 16, 2021)
Today I read Daniel 5 and the part that stuck out to me was verses 13-31. Daniel is interpreting a writing for the king, Belteshazzar, and the king offers rewards for his work. However, Daniel 5:17 reads "Let your gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to another." This shows Daniel's humility and desire to do God's work without thinking of what he will get in return.
As the chapter unfolds further, Daniel begins to interpret the writing and King Nebuchadnezzar is brought up again and how Nebuchadnezzar was given kingship, greatness, glory, and majesty from the Lord but how he abused that. Verse 19 reads, "And because of the greatness that he gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whom he would, he killed, and whom he would, he kept alive; whom he would, he raised up, and whom he would, he humbled." The problem is that Nebuchadnezzar directed the attention to himself rather than God. God was the provider but Nebuchadnezzar was enjoying all the glory. Thus, God takes the glory away and makes Nebuchadnezzar go through a difficult moment, outlined in verse 21.
Daniel 5:22 then reads, "And you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this" and Daniel 5:23 reads "but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored." Even knowing the consequences, Belshazzar did not listen and failed to give God the glory. And finally, Daniel 5 ends with the death of Belshazzar the Chaldean king and Darius the Mede takes over.
It makes me wonder why the chapter ends with Belshazzar's death. Is it solely because of the fact that he knew what he needed to do, but still went against God and decided to choose glorifying himself? What about us today? Don't we know the truth outlined in the Bible? Don't we know what we need to do to honor the Lord? Yet, sometimes we choose to glorify ourselves, just like Belshazzar. We choose the life of putting ourselves on a pedestal and fail to recognize that all things come from the Lord. In other words, we lack humility.
The difference between us today and the situations for Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar is that Jesus took the place and was the ultimate sacrifice. We deserved death, but God gave us eternal life. Because of Jesus, our story does not end with death but we have hope in the future of one day being reunited with our Father God.
Personally, Daniel 5 really revealed to me the importance of humility, which is recognizing that everything is God's and not our own. Our successes are not from our own work, but God's direction and gift to us. It is a constant battle to not become prideful since our tendency as humans is to choose pride. We just have to keep reminding ourselves that we would be nothing without God.
